Next Wednesday, November 7 from 3-4pm EST, the ASPCA will present a free webinar for current and prospective grantees on maintaining good relationships with funders and fulfilling the requirements of grants received. One of the presenters will be Your Humble Correspondent, and it will be the first webinar I’ve ever done, so wish me luck! More details about what the webinar will cover and how to register can be found in my latest ASPCA blog post that went live at the end of this week, “You’re Getting a Grant! Congratulations…and Some Friendly Advice.”

What a week this has been here in the New York area…Hurricane Sandy is unlike anything we’ve ever experienced in this region before. I was contacted by worried relatives in Australia, the U.K., and Italy because the images in the news were so shocking. A tree fell right through the middle of my aunt’s house and missed her by mere seconds. Even five days later, there are huge swaths of the tri-state area with no power, extremely limited public transit options, and severe gasoline shortages. I only just got my electricity back yesterday.

In addition to conducting search-and-rescue efforts for lost pets and distributing pet food and supplies in affected areas, the ASPCA is providing assistance to eligible nonprofit and government animal welfare agencies impacted by Hurricane Sandy via its Emergency and Disaster Response grant program. These grants help to cover a variety of expenses associated with hurricane-related rescue and recovery efforts, including pet food, shelter supplies, rescue supplies and equipment, boarding/fostering of rescued or at-risk animals, animal transport/relocation, animal medical care, overtime expenses for shelter staff, travel expenses for staff deployed to affected disaster areas, and infrastructure repairs/rebuilding.

I must say that when I wrote my disaster preparedness blog post for the ASPCA last month, I never saw this coming. It just goes to show how critical it is to expect the unexpected.